Dear lord, can we all stop with the navel graveling and circle jerking on how much we either love and or hate Obama? It's driving me crazy. We are all yelling at each other about the wrong person. I don't think the problem with this country resides in Obama. I think the problem arises with Congress and with us.
The argument on this blog seems to be a "progressive agenda" versus a more "moderate" Democratic agenda. My thesis is that to get a more "progressive agenda" the following things need to happen in the below order:
- We need more progressives.
- We need to be willing to move around the country.
- We need to elect more progressive Democrats.
- We need more progressives.
The Democratic Party is a diverse tent. We have a very loose agenda that holds together a bunch of people. Not all Democrats are liberal and not all are moderate to conservative. Progressives don't make up the majority of the party.
Take the Tea baggers. Tea baggers are pushing to become the majority of the Republican Party. They don't have numbers on their side. They are loud and vocal but the majority of Republicans are not crazy, CT racist weirdoes. This doesn't mean that everything in the Tea bagger’s agenda is bad (just 95% of it). It also doesn't mean that the Tea baggers are not influencing the Republican Party. By screaming, yelling and (most importantly) getting involved, they are slowly moving the Republican Party to the right or further right.
Progressives can do the same thing. They can scream, yell and get involved. I would prefer we have civil conversations based on facts and reason but one can only dream on this website. Getting involved is a big point for me. We can all sit on this website and scream at each other but what does that really do. We need to be as represented to the public. Where is the counter protest to the Tea Party rallies? Phone calls are fine but really we need people to get off their butts and put in some face to face time with your neighbors. We need a sales pitch. The only reason "Yes, We Can" worked is because Average Joe&Mary went out and sold it.
By doing so, they move the party further to the left. I think the main point is that the Democratic Party is never going to be 100% lefty. As Americans, we favor the middle. We are cautious of extremes on both sides and we are never going to adapt a full agenda of either of the extremes. We can however borrow and model the points that we like.
- We need to be willing to move around the country.
This goes along with the representation problem. I hear people complain about Blue Dog Democrats all the time on this blog. Really! Who do you think elected these people? The people of their states. I'm going to assume that the people of these states want these types of politicians to represent them. If you don't like these Senators/Representatives, you should move to that State and vote for a progressive candidate. It does no good to run super progressive candidates in states where the majority of people are not super progressive. We need progressive movement in all 50 states to really start effecting change. We need to get in on the ground level of local and state politics. Start showing them how much better life in Kansas or Mississippi can be with progressive rule. By showing at a ground level better practices, we can convert more moderates and then have a running chance at electing a progressive candidate.
- We need to elect more progressive Democrats.
Stop telling me about the majority of Democrats in Congress. The only thing we really have is a majority of people with a D attached to their name. That D doesn't mean the same thing for all Congresspersons. What I expect out of a California legislator is not the same as what a person in West Virginia expects. The only thing Congress is interested in is getting re-elected. Therefore if a progressive bill comes up and you are from a moderate to conservative state, you aren't voting for it.
Take for example the public option. Everyone was so angry that there was no public option. Damn that Obama. The majority of polls said that American's liked it. Okay, I agree with that. Now show me the breakdown per state of support and per Democratic represented states. Also show me per district. Because that is how the votes are going to fall. Congress people don't vote against something that is going to get them bounced from office. And since Congress made the bill, I'm going to lay the responsibility on them for what is in the bill and what isn't in the bill.
If we following point 2, we don't have these issues. A Democrat in WV equals a Democrat in California. That means a majority in agreement of principal not a majority of people with the same letter attached to their name. We stand a much better chance to get bills that actually reflect what we expect.
As you can see, I haven't really talked about President Obama. Why? I am more interested in how Congress votes. We put checks and balances into our government so that our President is more of a figurehead. I like listening to Obama. I listen carefully but I watch more carefully on what the heck my representatives are doing. If I don't like that person, I start looking around for a better alternative. That doesn't mean I vote to spite myself. It means I have to do all of the above points to get the people I want in. It really takes a group effort. One of thing that really irritates me is people who aren't going to vote. How is that helping anything? Instead vote with your nose plugged and then start finding alternatives. Find them and do all the above and soon we aren't voting with our noses plugged.
That is it for now. Thoughts, comments...